The donut burger - a bacon cheeseburger with a buttered Krispy Kreme glazed donut standing in for a bun - is becoming a hit on the fair circuit and among some far-out foodies.

Amusingly, the heart-stopping sandwich was sold just outside the West Springfield agricultural fair's "Better Living Center."

Pioneered in the South and popularized by Food Network host Paula Deen, it was a big hit at this year's Big E fair in Massachusetts. Fairgoers bought about 1,000 "Craz-E Burgers" each day of the fair's 17-day run, which ended Sunday, organizers said.

At 1,500 calories per, that adds up to 2.5 million calories worth of sugary, cheesy, bacon-dressed beef - or the creation of an additional 730 pounds of waistline jiggle.

The over-the-top donut burger has become a national sensation in an era of increasing pressure to eat healthy, local and less.

A bar owner in Decatur, Ga., claims to have invented it in 2005 when he ran out of burger buns. He called it a Luther Burger after singer Luther Vandross, who is sometimes credited with inventing it.

The Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team in Illinois known more for their death-defying ballpark food than their hitting, touched off the craze in 2006 by adding a $4.50 donut burger to the concession lineup.

Going the extra mile, the Grizzlies deep-fried their glazed donut before slapping it on the bacon cheeseburger. Attendance soared.

The ever-inventive Grizzlies have moved on and now hawk a new gutbuster made of 1.6 pounds of meat topped with salsa, sour cream, chili and Fritos. Cost: $20 and 4,889 calories.

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